


6x10: Memories

by nightbirdrises



Series: S6 Reaction Drabbles [9]
Category: Glee
Genre: M/M, Reaction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-20 14:46:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3654312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightbirdrises/pseuds/nightbirdrises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt and Blaine discuss the loss of Dalton, and why, a week later, it doesn't feel quite as devastating as it did at first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	6x10: Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Posted as part of a four-part reaction fic on [tumblr](http://princehummel.tumblr.com/post/115141236046).

When they first hear the news of Dalton burning to the ground, it feels a little like the entire world is aflame with no way to stop the destruction. It’s hopeless. It’s devastating. It’s the end of years upon years of a rich, dignified history.

For Blaine, it’s the loss of someplace that was home, was safe, for the times when he most needed both of those things in a location rather than a person. Because people are people, and places are steady, constant - except not Dalton, all because of a chandelier mishap.

For Kurt, it’s saddening, of course - he’d been a student there himself, and had found it a safe haven for a time. Not to mention it’s where he met the love of his life, and, later, where that same boy proposed to him. However, the worst part is watching his new husband do his utmost to rally himself for the benefit of his team when they should be riding high off of the bliss of their honeymoon.

“Hey, what are you up to?” Kurt asks softly at a closed door in Blaine’s apartment. They haven’t technically moved in together yet - there are other things to attend to first, and moving Kurt’s possessions is no mean feat - but he has a key and knows he’s welcome any time. Which is to say, he hasn’t slept in his own bed once since they’ve been back home in Ohio. “I brought cupcakes, courtesy of one Carole Hudson-Hummel.”

“I’ll be right out,” comes Blaine’s muffled reply. Kurt hears shuffling and the unmistakable noise of his husband tripping over something and swearing under his breath.

“You okay?” He starts to open the door, but Blaine beats him to it and shakes his head quickly, stepping into the hall and shutting the door behind him before Kurt can see what’s inside.

“Sorry,” he says sheepishly, gesturing to the door. “Secret project.”

Kurt raises an eyebrow. “Intriguing. Your husband can’t even get a hint?”

“My husband will see the finished product soon enough,” Blaine assures him, giving him a peck on the cheek and smiling; the expression reaches his eyes, scrunches them adorably. “I think you’ll like it, though. Well, I hope you do.”

“Whatever it is, it’s fine with me if it’s making you this happy,” Kurt says. “In fact, I won’t even _try_  to wheedle it out of you. Scout’s honor.”

“You weren’t a Boy Scout,” Blaine says, taking his hand and leading him to the kitchen, where Kurt had left a bag of take out for the both of them. “I know because you told me you picked ballet instead.” 

“And thank god I did.” Kurt hands Blaine a take out box of orange chicken and rice, which he takes with a smile. “You know, I don’t think I’ve seen you this happy since we were actually on our honeymoon.”

“I don’t know, I was pretty happy when we had sex on this table the other night,” Blaine says with a wink, leaning against the kitchen table as he eats. Kurt rolls his eyes, a silent  _you know what I mean_ , and Blaine’s grin sobers a little. “It’s been a rough week. Not just Dalton, but all the trouble we’ve been having with integrating the Warblers into the New Directions. But… I think what Kitty and I are working on might help.”

“Kitty’s in on it?”

“She’s more willingly helpful than she seems. You should get to know her better, Mr. Hummel,” Blaine says, prodding Kurt’s shoulder with a chopstick. Kurt sticks out his tongue.

“It’s Mr. Anderson-Hummel to you,” he responds. A pause passes between them, a moment of realizing, once again, that this is who they are now. It’s strange how much a simple hyphen can mean (even if they are, officially, keeping their own last names), or a ring, but it’s a good kind of strange. The kind that makes Kurt blush as he smiles into the next bite of white rice. “You know I’ll love whatever it is you’re doing. It’s the others you’ll have to convince the most.”

“Fingers crossed.”

The rest of their dinner passes in relative silence, each enjoying the other’s company as much as the food. Kurt tosses his box into the trash, then catches Blaine’s box when it’s thrown to him so it can follow suit. “Movie time?”

“Of course.” Blaine picks out the movie while Kurt brings a blanket to the couch and wraps himself up in it. By the time Blaine moves to sit down, Kurt resembles a human burrito. “Hey, where’s my corner?”

Kurt opens his arms, opening the blanket along with them. “Join me in my burrito, honey.”

“Oh my god.” Grinning, Blaine sits in Kurt’s lap with his back to his chest, wiggling until Kurt manages to wrap the both of them in the blanket. It’s not perfect; their legs stick out and Kurt realizes too late that his legs will fall asleep like this, so it takes another few minutes of maneuvering so that it’s more like he’s horizontally blanket-spooning him instead. 

“Nailed it,” Kurt mutters near Blaine’s ear, making him giggle. “So. Is it really just this project that’s making you so happy today?”

“…Would you accept a simple ‘yes’ as the answer?” Blaine asks evasively.

“Sure. I don’t know if I’d totally believe it, but I trust you to know your own happiness.”

“I guess it’s just kind of a complicated feeling,” Blaine says slowly. “More like coming to terms with things than actual happiness.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Like… you know, Dalton was more than just a school. All its strict policies kept people like me as safe as possible, and I’ll admit, I’ve really needed that kind of thing a few times, as restricting as I know it was for you.”

“A gilded cage with all the comforts of home,” Kurt says.

“Yeah, pretty much that. That’s why it was so scary to hear that it’s gone, because where will I go if I need something like that again? But I’ve been thinking.” Propping himself up so he can see Blaine’s face, Kurt waits. Blaine turns his gaze to Kurt, gentle warmth in his eyes. “I don’t need a safety net anymore. Not only because I have you, but because I have you  _and_  I think I’ve learned, thanks to my therapist, how to feel at home in… myself, feeling safe in my own skin wherever I am. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, it does.”

“That’s not to say it’s not still a little scary,” Blaine says with a quiet laugh. “I’m still learning. But I don’t have to run anymore, you know? I  _can’t_  run anymore; there’s nowhere for me to go. And I’m weirdly okay with that.”

“So it’s kind of like you’ve grown out of it?” Kurt offers, wondering. Blaine smiles.

“Yeah, something like that. Like a childhood security blanket. You remember how safe you felt with it, and you’re grateful you had it for hard times, but at some point you’re able to live without it. It becomes a memory.”

“Like our staircase. That’s just a memory now, too,” Kurt says sadly, resting his chin on Blaine’s shoulder. “I’m going to miss just knowing it’s there.”

“Me too.”

“But it’s also, in a way, sort of freeing. We’re definitely not the same people we were when we met on those steps,” he continues. “No more strings holding us to all those idealistic thoughts about us that we had when we were first dating, or when we got engaged.”

“Are you saying that our hopes and dreams for the two of us figuratively burned to the ground? That’s a little morbid, jeez, Kurt.”

“Oh, hush. I’m saying that there’s no pressure. You and I both know by now that neither of us is perfect. Now it’s like we can move forward without having the unrealistic expectations we had then.”

“I suppose. Wow. Blanket burrito cuddling makes us all philosophical and stuff.”

“You started it,” Kurt mumbles, kissing Blaine’s jaw near his ear. “I think the point of this conversation is that we’re sad to see Dalton go, but it’s not the end of the world. It’s just a new beginning. What do you think?”

“I think you’re absolutely right.”

“…Still no chance of a hint on that project of yours?”

“Hey, you said Scout’s Honor and now you’re breaking your oath.”

“I’m curious! And I’m not a scout, I can’t be held to such an oath. You basically said so yourself.”

“Unbelievable.”

“I can pinky swear.”

“Then pinky swear, because if you pout too much I won’t be able to resist, and then the surprise will be ruined.”

“Fine. Pinky swear.”

“Awesome. I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart.”


End file.
